“Why is this so important to Russia?” Morano asked his audience. “Think back to ‘Star Wars’ and Ronald Reagan and 1983, which was a very important point. Reagan gave a speech [about developing SDI], and the media went nuts and said he wanted to expand the arms race into space.” However, Soviet leaders took Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative “very seriously,” he said, including General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev when he came to power.“ The Russians knew they could not afford to compete with the SDI program, and that economically they could not afford this,” Morano said. “Now with Donald Trump’s energy policies and with the U.S. becoming an energy powerhouse, the Russians know this is the worst thing that could ever happen because they can’t afford to keep up economically.” Gorbachev tried repeatedly to persuade Reagan to drop the plans for a space-based missile shield, but to no avail, Morano said